In short, its because they grew up with following religion being normal, which clouds their judgement. This lead them not to question and analyze the ideas before accepting them like they would something else that sounded "mystical" or had to have blind faith to believe in. Such as stories about fairies, goblins, giants in the woods, and being a mermaid in a past life.
Think of the reaction "most" people would have if someone tried to convince them they talk to goblins, giants, and fairies, then said if you don't do what they say then you will burn in the sun. There were holes in their logic and their claims contradicted scientific fact that's been constantly replicated and observed.
The typical person, religious or not, would see right through it. They would think the person was crazy, is intentionally trying to manipulate them, or both. 20-30% of people will believe them though.
We grew up in a time when we had a greater understanding of how the world worked. Ancient religions were created to explain how life and the world worked because they had no explaination for it. Examples, how we get sick, where the sun goes at night, where rain comes from, etc. Looking back now we know they were mythical because our better understanding of our world.
We can recognize false claims the original creators and acceptors of religion couldn't. Like how Catholic kings would intentionally lie and say he talked to a divine being to change laws so he could do whatever he wanted, knowing everyone would blindly follow him. If the president of the US said he talked to God and he told him to change (insert laws here), we wouldn't fall for that.
Current religion's claims are similiar to the religions we see as "mythical". If you took out blind faith and looked at it logically, its equally as mythical sounding as fairies, goblins, giants, and ancient mythical religions. Concerning ancient religions , its usually parts of the story taken with the names changed.
The only reason why most religious people don't see that and choose to go on blind faith is because they grew up with believing in it being normal. Believing in fairies, goblins, giants, and being a mermaid in a past life wasn't considered normal, so they can see them for what they really are.
The reason why so many people believe in religion today is because the people of the main religion's creation date didn't have the knowledge we had to see it how it really was. We're going off of their judgement, because of "them" it became normal to do and was seen as normal from to generation to generation. Religion has a big base today and it wasn't because it was correct, it was because of the judgment of people in more ignorant times.
If we still had the scientific advances and knowledge we had today, but didn't have any religion ever, what would you and the average person think if a guy tried to convert you to a religion? I know we made scientific advances because of religion in historical times, but hypothetically, imagine we made the same advances "without" any religion even being created. What would you think?
Sometimes he had holes in his logic, he contradicted science, he makes all these unbelievable sounding claims, and he said he talked to a divine being that told him to tell everyone to do what the being said. When you ask him to prove it, he says "He's all knowing, he doesn't need proof." or he uses more of his claims to back up the claim you're questioning and avoids giving evidence. He says you have to imagine it and if it feels right its true.
Then he attacks scientific proof without having evidence for his claim or / and he clearly doesn't understand what the scientific claim is even saying. He believes it's equally logical to believe science as it is to believe his claims. He thinks they're at equal levels of credibility. He says "You prove I'm wrong and that the divine being I talked to doesn't exist. If you can't then my claims are equally credible and believable as scientific fact."
Keep in mind you aren't religious, you've never heard of religion, this is the first time you've heard of someone talking about this.
I'm imagining for "most" of you it would be hard to believe or you wouldn't believe it. That opinion you have is what your opinion about religion would be if your judgement wasn't effected by your upringing in a religious society.
I used to be religious too. I suspect only 20-30% of religious people today would believe that guy (in that situation)
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